Pilot & Feasibility Program - Abstract The Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Program is an integral component of the Digestive Disease Research Core Center (DDRCC) and supports the center?s mission to facilitate and promote digestive and liver disease research at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). The overall objective of the P&F Program is to provide and prioritize short-term funding for scientifically meritorious and innovative projects through a competitive program which incorporates an open solicitation and peer review process. The primary goals of the P&F Program are to: 1) encourage and support promising New Investigators with an interest in digestive disease research to develop independent research programs; 2) attract accomplished investigators from other fields who would like to apply their research skills and expertise to a digestive disease-related problem; and 3) enable established investigators active in digestive disease or related disorders to test the feasibility of a novel idea, particularly if this constitutes a departure from their current funded research that will likely have a significant impact on the field. The P&F Program will be an important vehicle for promoting multidisciplinary collaboration and establishing a strong supportive scientific network for early career investigators funded by the program. The P&F program plans to fund 3 projects per year of up to $35,000 each. Decisions related to the awarding of funds will be based on a rigorous and independent three-phase peer-review process that is modeled on the NIH system. The initial level of review will involve screening of proposals to verify that applications meet the eligibility criteria. The second level of review will involve a panel of MUSC experts whose primary function will be to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of P&F applications. The third level of review will be performed by the DDRCC External Advisory Board. Applications will be prioritized according to four criteria: 1) quality of the research (scientific merit, innovation, and impact); 2) qualifications of the research team and ability to lead the research effort toward securing extramural funding within a reasonable timeframe; 3) relevance to MUSC DDRCC goals and themes as well as projected use of DDRCC cores, and 4) stimulation of collaborative efforts with DDRCC members and/or projects. Funded investigators will receive one year of support along with free use of DDRCC core facilities to explore investigator-initiated projects related to the mission of the DDRCC. Thus, the P&F Program will enable investigators to form interdisciplinary, interactive, and sustainable research studies that will impact digestive and liver disease research.